Today all the eyes are on Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as she presented the Union Budget at the Parliament.

This the first Budget by the BJP-led NDA government since it was re-elected in June.

Sitharaman announced the withdrawal of the 2% equalisation levy. Presenting the Budget, she said the standard deduction for salaried employees will be hiked to ₹75,000, from ₹50,000 under the new income tax regime in FY25.

The Union Budget 2024-25 identified nine priorities for generating ample opportunities — Productivity and Resilience in Agriculture, Employment and Skilling, Inclusive Human Resource Development and Social Justice, Manufacturing and Service, Urban Development, Energy Security, Infrastructure, Innovation, Research and Development and Next Generation Reforms.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget speech proposed creation of employment of about 4.1 crore youth over the next five years.

Towards it, the finance minister has made an allocation of Rs 2 lakh crore.

Similarly, for skilling the citizens so as to generate job opportunities, she proposed Rs 1.48 crore. 20 lakh youth will be skilled over a five-year period. A total of 1,000 industrial training institutes will be upgraded, she announced.

She proposed in her speech that a one-time wage would be provided to all first time employees in all sectors. The incentive for first-timers would be provided through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT)

Direct benefit transfer of one month's salary in three installments to first-time employees as registered in EPFO, will be up to 15,000. The eligibility limit will be a salary of 1 Lakh/ per month. The scheme is expected to benefit 210 Lakh youth.

The Finance Minister said that the government will launch internship opportunities in 500 companies to one crore youth in five years.

Interns will get exposure to real-life environment and an allowance of Rs 5000 per month, she said. The companies will bear training and 10 per cent of training cost from CSR funds.

Sitharaman said employment, skilling, MSME, and middle class are among key focus areas of this Budget.